Homes on the Kent coast continue to be at risk of flooding as heavy rainfall has caused water levels to rise.

The Environment Agency (EA) is currently supplying extra pumping capacity in Romney Marsh as systems have struggled to cope with the torrential downpours.

A flood warning was issued earlier today, with residents told to expect flooding “imminently” and that properties, roads and low-lying land were at risk.

It remains in force for homes near the New Romney Sewage Arm – otherwise known as the Littlestone Sewage Arm or Greatstone Stream – which is used to take water to the sea from the nearby Southern Water treatment plant.

“We expect river levels to remain high until tomorrow morning. Please take action to protect yourself and your property,” it said.

“Our incident response staff have deployed pumps, people and equipment to Greatstone Pumping Station, and we are actively monitoring the situation.”

Tony Hills – the chairman of the Kent flood risk management committee - says teams were pumping out water for hours today following the rain.

“We’ve got so much casual water lying across the Marsh,” he said.

“Southern Water teams have been pumping out masses of water at Littlestone Sewage Arm today. They've been going for hours because there’s so much rainwater coming into the sewer system and they haven’t got the capacity to hold any more.”

He added sewage arm could overflow and enter people’s houses.

“It’s quite low-lying down there,” he said.

“There is a six-inch diesel pump in, which can’t cope.

“It’s not life-threatening but it is very irritating and people need to know what to do and report any flooding issues they have to Kent County Council’s website.

“We just need to upgrade our systems to take care of this. We need to improve our drainage.”

The updated warning this evening said: “The Environment Agency are in the process of supplying additional pumping capacity at Greatstone Pumping Station to help draw the water level down.

“We continue to monitor the level and attend the site on a regular basis. Any showers on Saturday evening should die out by midnight. Drier weather is expected on Sunday and Monday.”

Residents are also being urged to check their flood risk and sign up for free flood warnings via the government website.